Foods products, such as meat, cheese and the like, are conventionally packaged in plastic bags using an automated bagger of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,023. The bagger feeds empty lead bags mounted on tapes in a shingled bag assembly along a workstation surface. The lead bag in the assembly is inflated and a product is inserted into the bag. The filled bag is then stripped from the bag assembly and sealed and the tape is drawn into a tape slot extending across the workstation surface and wound onto a reel under the workstation. Winding of the tape feeds the next bag in the shingled assembly to the workstation surface, the bag is inflated by an air blast and the cycle is repeated.
When the lead bag is feed along the workstation surface, the leading end of the bag activates a trigger extending above workstation surface adjacent the slot. Trigger activation sends a signal to the bagger to halt feeding the bag assembly. This prevents the bagger from winding unfilled bags attached to the tape around the reel and prevents bag waste.
During high-speed operation of the bagger, a bagger operator will load product into a moving lead bag before the bag activates the trigger. The operator will rapidly load product into the moving lead bag as soon as the bag is inflated and then remove the loaded bag from the workstation to prepare for loading the next bag. The leading ends of the bags do not engage the trigger.
The operator may during high speed loading, accidentally move the product against the trigger as the product is moved into a moving lead bag. Accidental activation of the trigger deactivates the bagger and slows product packing. The operator must wait for the bagger to resume feeding the bag assembly before product packaging can resume.
In the case of baggers that include printers, accidental activation of the trigger will further slow operation of the bagger as the printer must reset before product packaging can resume.
Therefore, there is a need for an automated bagger and method that allow efficient, high-speed loading of moving bags delivered to a workstation without inadvertent deactivation of the bagger. The bagger must shut down when a lead bag is not loaded.